A colleague asked me about enabling ssh access on esx5i and I directed him to the traditional method of editing the config file and restarting the service. Vmware have actually made it some much easier by allowing this to be done without having to modifying the file.
The steps are
On the start screen press F2 for “Customize System”
Login with the local password
Select and enter Troubleshooting Options
Click on Enable SSH to activate SSH on your VMware ESXi 5.0 host
After you have pressed the ENTER key you will now see that SSH is enabled